Look Before You Link

Our Towns: Granby

March 04, 1999

School officials should be wary when gifts are wrapped in advertising string, such as the computers a California company has offered to several districts in the region. The company ZapMe! wants to donate free computers, software, training and installation to Granby. The district could save as much $100,000 a year, quite a deal.

The cost-saving benefits are appealing, but the commercial hitch has correctly caused officials to pause. The company makes money from corporate advertisers, which post their logos and links on the ZapMe! browser. This means that Granby students using the system would view ZapMe! advertising in addition to any other ads on individual Web sites. In other words, public school students would become a captive audience for select marketers.

Schools must guard against inadvertently compromising educational interests and values in exchange for what initially appears to be a good bargain. Granby is in the midst of a budget season that promises to be tight.

The finance board has recommended limiting town and school budget increases to 3.5 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. This will be no easy task with burgeoning enrollments and the increasing demand for computers, Internet access and wiring in the schools. The timing has made the free computer offer particularly tantalizing. Several nagging questions still need to be answered. For example, what products will be promoted? Will the ads be seen as school endorsements?

In Bristol, which has placed a similar offer by the same company on hold since last year, school officials are consulting experts and studying the issue. The ultimate goal is to create a comprehensive policy to appropriately control advertising in schools. Granby should follow Bristol's caution. Having a policy in place first makes sense. Classrooms should not become hostage to advertisers.